Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Who decides where a case should be tried?

This article about a case from Singapore includes a fascinating nugget:

Servicemen can, in fact, be charged and punished in the criminal courts for Penal Code offences of committing rash and negligent acts, "even during the course of their military duties", said [Brigadier-General] Chan [Wing Kai, commander of the army's Training and Doctrine Command].

"The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), not the SAF, decides if the evidence warrants this course of action."

BG Chan cited previous cases in which servicemen were charged in court for their offences, including the four servicemen who were charged in court in 2004 for causing the death of another servicemen during combat survival training.

BG Chan reiterated in his post that "those responsible through their rash and negligent acts will be held accountable under our Military Court and Criminal Law Courts".

In the case in question, those responsible were punished under military law rather than in a civilian prosecution.